Smallville: Season 11#10 is the tenth issue of the print edition of the DC Comics comic book series. The issue collects parts 4-6 (chapters 29-31) of the Haunted story arc, originally released digitally.

Contents

Summary

Superman races to find answers as mysterious “speed storms” begin to break out across the globe. Lex hands Tess an ultimatum: Reveal everything she knows about the Man of Steel, or face oblivion.

Recap

Chloe and Oliver discussing the baby and Earth-2 Chloe

At Watchtower, Oliver Queen sits at the desk, drawing plans for a jetcraft amidst a number of parenting books. His wife, Chloe, practices shooting his bow and arrows and Oliver notes that she seems to be getting better. Chloe attributes it to their child growing within her. When Ollie notes that he's the only one of the two who has spent any time with the books, Chloe teases him that he's only been doodling images of the Batwing. He shows her his plans and proudly proclaims it is the Arrowjet.

Ollie then asks why she hasn't told her best friend Clark Kent or her cousin Lois Lane about the pregnancy and admits to being anxious to let everyone know. Chloe reminds him that as long as Clark is irradiated and being tracked by Lex Luthor, she doesn't want to risk Watchtower's location being discovered. Besides, she is more concerned, at the moment, with decrypting the warning her doppelgänger gave regarding "the Crisis" that is coming. Ollie laments that they can't just ask her as she is dead. Chloe makes a suggestion that there might be a way that they could.

Bart reveals what really happened when Lex captured him.

Flying over the Atlantic, Superman carries Bart Allen, refusing to let him use his superspeed and risk being captured by the dark creature in the Speed Force. Bart mentions that it's always waited for him every time he's used his superspeed and Clark asks why he's never mentioned it before. The speedster explains that he always believed his speed had a cap until he was pushed into running faster than he'd ever imagined by Lex's torture for stealing LuthorCorp secrets. It was the first time he'd tapped into the Speed Force and the first time he saw the creature, a thing he referred to as a "Speed Demon" or "Black Racer," just the other side of the glass cage he was trapped in. When Clark rescued him from the cage, he also saved him from the demon.

With the creature always present, Clark asks why Bart wanted to race to India. Bart admits that, since Clark is the only one who can come close to keeping pace with him, he hoped that by the two going so fast and Clark not seeing the demon he could prove it was all in his head. Clark assures his friend that he's not crazy. He states that they need to devise a way for Clark to be able to face the demon.

Lois enters the facility ruins and announces herself to LexCorp employees on-hand. She asks why Lex suddenly ordered cleanup of the ruins five years after the disaster that brought the building down. When the site manager tries to blame the incident on corporate terrorists, Lois informs him that heroes blew the building up to stop human experimentation. Elsewhere in the rubble, Fritz, one of the LexCorp employees, asks another if it's safe for them to be around the extraordinary amounts of meteor rock found in the ruins. He recounts how he heard rumors of people being driven crazy by the radiation and that it altered others, including a boy who could control bugs and another who controlled bees. The other employee dismisses the claims and wonders aloud why Lex would want so much meteor rock collected.

A victim of the Speed Force.

The man notices crackling arcs of yellow, red, and black electricity near the same broken glass cage that once held Bart and investigates the strange phenomenon. As Fritz announces on comms for the team to check their radiation strips, the electricity arcs like lightning and strikes him. Lois witnesses Fritz being trapped by the electricity and runs across the ruins toward him. The electricity soon builds into a charged vortex and throws Fritz across the ruins. Lois yells for an ambulance as she sprints to help the man. She's horrified to find the man's body sucked of life ... and age.

Lex ready do to anything to get information on Superman

In LexCorp Tower, using the Project Intercept apparatus to go inside his mind, Lex confronts his sister, Tess Mercer, and reveals that his team of neurosurgeons has discovered the area of his brain where her consciousness resides. He makes her an offer: tell him everything she knows about Superman or he will have the doctors damage that part of his brain, effectively killing her off. Tess rejects his ultimatum. Lex awakes and tells the doctors to prepare to perform their procedure the next morning.

Hamilton and his crew dealing with Earth 2 threat and Black Flash

At S.T.A.R. Labs, Emil Hamilton meets with his staff to discuss two problems before them: one, assisting Superman in finding a way to help Impulse with the dark creature; and two, aiding Watchtower in retrieving the technology that LexCorp used to transfer Hank Henshaw's consciousness from his charred and crippled body into one of the H.E.D. drones. Emil states he will address the technology issue and assigns the others to Impulse's case.

Lex meets with his assistant Otis Berg to discuss the incident that occurred at the Ridge Facility. Otis informs him of only one fatality and that, so far, no press has heard of what happened. As they pass by one of the janitorial staff on their way out of the building, the janitor steals Otis' security keycards. On Level 3, the janitor is revealed to be Lois as she uses a keycard to access the floor. As she makes it past the security door, her cellphone rings. As she answers the phone, security laser alarm beams are revealed to her. She correctly guesses and thanks Chloe for the assist.

Chloe asks if Lois is there to steal the "brain machine" she asked Emil to help gather. Lois recounts what she witnessed at the Ridge Facility, as well as the mysterious note Lex left her, and says she is snooping around to get some answers. She also admits to missing Clark and needing to catch Lex in some manner of wrongdoing to compensate. Chloe suggests that Lois look in Lex's office, and when she makes her way there, she finds a green arrow with a note addressed to Lex attached.

Superman promising Impulse that they will deal with the Black Flash threat.

The scientists at S.T.A.R. Labs set Bart and Clark up for a speed assessment. As Bart chats up a lovely blonde scientist, Emil asks Clark how he's able to be so jovial. Clark answers that Bart probably welcomes any distraction from being chased by the creature as long as he has. With everything set, Bart wonders how Clark will manage to match his speed, considering he runs a lot faster than Clark. Emil explains that the treadmills they are using for the assessment had been specially designed with a frictionless engine assembly when they began testing Clark's abilities. This will allow Bart to run as fast as he can while Clark's treadmill will accelerate him towards Bart's speed. They all hope that if they can get Clark fast enough, he can witness the creature as well.

As they run, Clark encourages Bart to go full speed, insisting that he has his friend's back. With approval, Bart taps into the Speed Force and runs so fast that he causes the treadmill and the monitoring equipment to explode. As Clark falls to the floor, while in the Speed Force, the horrible creature towers over him, chastising his speed as "not pure." Outside of the force, Bart asks Clark if he was able to see the demon. Now knowing what he is dealing with, Clark assures his friend that he will find a way to save him.

Clark learns the "Speed Storms" are chasing Bart.

Clark and Lois meet on the roof of the Daily Planet Building for a bite to eat and further lament that he can't return to his "normal" life as a mild-mannered reporter. She mentions that he has burned through all of his sick days and vacation time and that their boss, Franklin Stern, is getting suspicious about his absence. Joking about having to tell him Clark's become a fireman or something else, Clark admits that he's devoted his life to bigger things now.

Regarding one of those things, Lois shows Clark pictures of the LexCorp employee, Fritz, who was thrown into a wall and superspeed aged to death. She shows him pictures of other incidents of it occurring over the past five years. She says that these "speed storms" have popped up in Keystone City, Mexico, Miami, and islands in the Pacific Ocean, and have been increasing in frequency. Clark immediately recognizes each as places Bart has been and that the storms are chasing him like the dark creature. Clark worries that he won't be able to find a way to help Bart when Lois points out that he should consult someone else who has run as fast as Bart before.

They are interrupted by Jeff the intern and Clark superspeeds into the sky. Jeff informs Lois that he gave the note Lex had written to his roommate Bert Camp, his "contact" on the police force, and that Bert had a handwriting consultant take a look. They were able to match with 95% certainty that the handwriting belongs to Tess Mercer.

At S.T.A.R. Labs, Oliver and Emil chat about the accident that happened in the speed assessment lab with Bart and Clark. They make their way into another lab and Emil reveals that they were able to place Chloe's dead doppelganger in cryogenic freeze using technology Clark confiscated when he and the Batman captured Mr. Freeze. Naturally worried, Oliver asks if the plan will work and if they'll even be able to access her memories.

Emil posits that Chloe might only be able to access the other's most recent accessed memories given how long she's been dead. Oliver guesses this to mean the flashes of her life before her eyes just prior to dying. Looking for assurance, Emil is only able to admit that with the technology and the similar biochemistries of the two Chloes, he's making educated guesses as they're going along. Oliver asks if the baby will be affected by the procedure and Emil says that unless there are psychosomatic effects caused by the mental link, the baby should be fine.

Abigail letting Superman and Impulse in the Brownstone.

Elsewhere in Metropolis, Clark and Bart visit the JSA Brownstone, being tended to by Abigail Hunkel. She lets them past the security measures and Clark takes Bart into the museum honoring the members of the Justice Society of America. Bart recalls that this was Carter Hall's group but wonders how any of the artifacts will help them with his problem with the "speed demon." Clark explains they are there to begin a search for the first hero to break the sound barrier on foot, Jay Garrick.

Earth 2 Lois dies because of the Crisis

Meanwhile, Emil places Chloe inside the Project Intercept apparatus to begin the "mind dive" procedure. Oliver asks one more time if she's sure about doing this. Mentioning that she's "been possessed by a witch, rewired by a Kryptonian computer, and mind controlled more times" than she can count, Chloe assures him that she's prepared for what she is about to do. Emil starts the link and Chloe is instantly transported into the memories of her counterpart.

On Earth-2, the counterpart's cousin, Lois Queen, runs toward her amidst a scene of rubble and destruction. The alternate Lois screams to Chloe to get to her space ship. Just then, a particle beam from a monstrous ship flying overhead shoots down and vaporizes the Earth-2 Lois. Both her counterpart and Chloe scream in horror.